I've been using these for the past 2 months at a Longman School but it seems this technology is still too new. At least this courseware publishers has basically just ported their print publications to this format so other than integrated audio clips, there's no difference to conventional coursebooks. I'd love to be able to turn off the text, play the audio and let students retell what they've heard but that's not possible.

There's real potential for integrating video clips into the courseware (as news sites do), but the only way to currently do that is to leave the application and go to a weblink. That's why I posted a request eslewhere on this forum to collaborate on/share web-based bookmarks. Does anyone use Delicious or any other social bookmarking site for this?

The power of IWBs - and in tech in the classroom in general - is not in how you tie them to a textbook; they effectively make textbooks irrelevant for classroom practice. The majority of IWB-linked EFL textbooks are lacking in originality and do just what you said - reproduce the textbook BIG.

What I like about IWBs is that they bring the internet into the classroom. They can be as democratic as the teacher chooses, just like the whiteboard in a traditional classroom.

You do know that you can make an IWB for under $100, provided you have the laptop and projector?